Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia

448 U.S. 555 (1980)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Stevenson was indicted for the murder and was convicted of second-degree murder. That was overturned. The second trial ended in a mistrial. A third trial ended in a mistrial. It appears that the mistrial may have been declared because a prospective juror had read about Stevenson's previous trials in a newspaper and had told other prospective jurors about the case before the retrial began. Stevenson was tried in the same court for a fourth time. Before the trial began, counsel for the defendant moved that it be closed to the public. The trial judge asked if the prosecution had any objection to clearing the courtroom. The prosecutor had no objection and would leave it to the discretion of the court. The trial judge closed the courtroom. Richmond (P) sought a hearing on a motion to vacate the closure order. No evidentiary findings had been made by the court prior to the entry of its closure order. P argued that constitutional considerations mandated that before ordering closure, the court should first decide that the rights of the defendant could be protected in no other way. The court denied the motion to vacate. P petitioned the Virginia Supreme Court for writs of mandamus and prohibition and filed an appeal from the trial court's closure order. The Virginia Supreme Court dismissed the mandamus and prohibition petitions and, finding no reversible error, denied the petition for appeal. The defendant was acquitted of murder. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to P.